Design of a hot clamp for small diameter LMFBR piping

In order to evaluate the feasibility of using a strap-type clamp on breeder reactor small diameter piping, a series of analyses were conducted to determine the thermal and mechanical stresses induced in the pipe by the clamp. The effect of using a thin layer of insulation of varying thickness between the pipe and clamp was also investigated. A thermal analysis of the pipe and clamp was conducted for each thermal transient rate. Various insulation values ranging from metal-to-metal condition to perfect insulation between the pipe and clamp were analyzed to determine the effect of insulating the pipe from the clamp. An axisymmetric finite element model was used to determine the axial thermal and stress patterns